Suzanne Adan

Suzanne Adan (born 1946) creates personal universes that combine fantasy, popular culture, and autobiography. Suzanne Adan: I'm No Spring Chicken is a collection of these works assembled in her 80th year for an exhibition of the same name. It includes approximately 120 examples of her work, along with supplemental illustrations and photographs. Much like her art, Suzanne Adan (born 1946) is animated, funny, and a little dark. She grew up in Yolo, a village not far from Sacramento, California, her small-town childhood later combining with adult themes and the implications of innocence lost. She developed her iconography and style within a rich context of eclectically irreverent Northern California artists, whose everyday subject matter, tongue-in-cheek humor, and penchant for the subversive led to her own absurd and satirical edge.

Scott A. Shields, Ph.D., is the Ted and Melza Barr Chief Curator and Associate Director at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Kansas, where his studies focused on American paintings, 1825-1940. Prior to joining the Crocker in 2000, he served as Curator of Fine Arts at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. For the past twenty-five years in Sacramento, Shields has added more than 20,000 works of art to the Museum's permanent collection and curated nearly 100 exhibitions. He has also authored numerous exhibition catalogues, including Artists at Continent's End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony; Echoes of the Earth: Ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu; Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey; A Touch of Blue: Landscapes by Gregory Kondos; Armin Hansen: The Artful Voyage; E. Charlton Fortune: The Colorful Spirit; Richard Diebenkorn: Beginnings; Granville Redmond: The Eloquent Palette; Wayne Thiebaud 100: Paintings, Prints, and Drawings; The Candy Store: Funk, Nut, and Other Art with a Kick; and Breaking the Rules: Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown.